Dating another athlete comes with its own set of problems, and no one knows that better than the NWSL star Trinity Rodman and her boyfriend, a tennis pro Ben Shelton.
Rodman, 23, posted an emotional video on TikTok on Sunday, May 3, showing how he felt about saying goodbye to Shelton, also 23, months at a time.
“When you were alone after dropping off your boyfriend at the airport knowing ur not gonna see him for months after you just spent months without seeing him,” she wrote in this video, as if she was crying.
“Love and hate tennis,” he added in the caption.
Shelton is currently in Italy, where he will compete in the Italian Open starting Wednesday, May 6.
Rodman and Shelton first sparked dating rumors in 2024 when they were seen together in public several times. They confirmed the fans' suspicions via Instagram in March 2025, one month before Shelton filed the lawsuit Us Weekly about their relationship.
Trinity Rodman and Ben Shelton
Getty Images (2)Shelton said Us only at a time when making their relationship work “isn't easy” because of their schedules.
“You have to make sacrifices sometimes,” he said. “It's just the lives we live, the lives we live now and the foreseeable future. I think you have to have two people who sacrifice themselves in a situation like this, and I think we have that.”
While Shelton is touring the globe as the current ATP No. 6 in the world, Rodman is a forward for the Washington Spirit, who became the highest-paid player in NWSL history last season when he signed a three-year contract worth more than $2 million a year.
Olympian Trinity Rodman was boyfriend Ben Shelton's No. 1 fan and cheerleader during the BMW Open tennis tournament. Rodman, 22, left Munich on Saturday, April 19, for Shelton's semi-final against Argentine athlete Francisco Cerundolo, sitting in a private box. The soccer player, on the other hand, wore a black T-shirt with a black T-shirt […]
The two have always been there to support each other publicly, with Rodman often sitting in the stands watching Shelton compete while he's out of season.
Rodman's latest show of support for Shelton took place on Tuesday, April 28, when he took to Instagram to express his condolences to his boyfriend over the loss of his grandmother.
“It's been a difficult time for me to find words, but I lost my grandmother last month, and my family and I celebrated her life yesterday at her home in Alabama,” Shelton wrote alongside a carousel of photos of her grandmother. “She was a beautiful woman with more love in her heart than anyone I've ever met. She was a fighter to the end. I could talk for days about the impact she had on me, and without her I wouldn't be playing tennis, let alone training.”
“I love you ❤️ super power,” Rodman wrote in the comments section.
